Ramos got the ball rolling when he remarked in December that he had purchased his-and-hers firearms for himself and his wife, then learned there was no firing range in the city where he could take her to practice.

Savannah Pfautz, 24, said she and her husband, who had been kicking around the idea of opening their own gun range, had put the finishing touches on their business plan for just such an operation earlier in December.

“That was pretty awesome that it happened that way. We didn’t plan on it,” she said. “We’ve grown up in this valley, so we knew we wanted something here. Originally we had thought about the business park in Temecula, since it’s all industrial back there. But once (Ramos) came out and said that, we were like, ‘Well, here we go. Here’s the answer.’ ”

T.J. Pfautz, 25, grew up in a family that shot guns for sport. Pfautz said his grandfather was a member of the Marine Corps pistol team, and he himself served in the Marines through 2009 as a small-arms repair technician.

When the men in the family got together, he said, they went shooting.

After getting out of the Marines, Pfautz said he applied at dozens of gun stores from San Diego to Los Angeles to Palm Springs. To no avail. He said a frequent response was that he was “overqualified.”

That’s when Pfautz and his wife came to the decision to start researching their business idea. One Saturday, the Pfautzes left their Temecula home and drove around Southern California, visiting about a dozen firing ranges, T.J. Pfautz said, putting 500 miles on their vehicle.

“It was a long day,” he said.

He said that he and his wife wrote reviews on each range — what they liked and disliked — and used that information to help craft their business plan. After learning about Ramos’ comments, they emailed the plan to him. He called them back.

His message: “There’s definitely a need in this region for a new shooting range.”

There was one hitch, though.

The city of Murrieta’s zoning laws do not allow for the construction of a firing range. And the Pfautzes’ plan calls for them to build a new facility, not take over an existing building.

That was part of the purpose of a City Council workshop held late last month: to determine whether the city would include the amendment to the municipal code allowing a firing range in its current round of changes. The council elected to go forward with other amendments that, according to City Planner Cynthia Kinser, “have been waiting in the wings for some time.”

So the council will discuss amending the city rules to permit a gun range at a later date.

It will be late in 2013, at the earliest, before the Pfautzes could start the permit process.

New gun legislation is a hot-button topic with the federal government, and gun owners who fear the abridgment of their rights are buying firearms and ammunition at record levels.

“From a strictly business standpoint, there’s not a better time to open a range than right now,” Savannah Pfautz said.

But she said that she and her husband are willing to wait, and work with the city, to make their plan a reality.

“We believe in this,” Savannah Pfautz said. “We believe in gun safety. We believe in teaching people how to properly handle (firearms). We believe in having a place for them to participate in the sport, and having an atmosphere where it’s safe for you to come and shoot your weapons, and learn about safety and control.”